As a one-way clutch for use in a sheet feeding mechanism for a facsimile, a copying machine, or the like, a one-way clutch of an inscribed gear type, is known, including a cylindrical outer member having an inner gear at its inner circumference; an inner member rotatably disposed in an inside space of the inner gear, having gear receivers at its outer periphery and a lock edge on one side in the circumferential direction of the gear receiver; and a planetary gear received rollably in each of the gear receivers so as to mesh with the inner gear (for example, Patent Document 1).
In a one-way clutch of an inscribed gear type, when an inner member is rotated in one direction with respect to an outer member, a planetary gear is displaced on one side in a circumferential direction inside of a gear receiver according to the rotation, so that a lock edge is fitted to a gear root of the planetary gear, thereby disenabling the planetary gear from rolling so as to connect the outer member and the inner member in a torque transmission relationship. To the contrary, when the inner member is rotated in the other direction with respect to the outer member, the planetary gear is displaced on the other side in the circumferential direction inside of the gear receiver according to the rotation, so that the lock edge is released (separated) from the gear root of the planetary gear, thereby enabling the planetary gear to roll so as to allow the outer member and the inner member to be rotated relatively to each other and break off the torque transmission relationship therebetween.
In the above-described one-way clutch of an inscribed gear type, the planetary gear rolls in the state in which its tip contacts with the inner circumferential surface of the gear receiver as if a polygonal member having the same number of vertexes as that of teeth of the planetary gear rolling inside of the gear receiver, thereby intermittently producing a chattering slide noise so as to inhibit silence.
In view of the above, there has been proposed a one-way clutch of an inscribed gear type including movement range regulating means for substantially prohibiting any radial displacement of a planetary gear, in which shafts project from both ends of the planetary gear, holes elongated in a circumferential direction are formed on both axial sides of a gear receiver, wherein the shafts of the planetary gear are fitted to the elongated holes, so that the planetary gear can be displaced in the circumferential direction with respect to an inner member but the tip of the planetary gear cannot contact with the inner circumferential surface of the gear receiver so as to allow the planetary gear to be fitted to or released from a lock edge (for example, Patent Document 2).